


The Last Mask

by axoctic



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Arcadia - Freeform, Best Friends, Demon Hunters, Demons, Fantasy, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, M/M, Magic, Mutual Pining, Mystery, Oblivious, Secrets, Slow Burn, Swords, Whipped Taehyun, Yeonbin, bow and arrow, card deck, highschool seniors, super natural - Freeform, taegyu, tyunning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:15:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24624583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/axoctic/pseuds/axoctic
Summary: soobin wants to become a demon hunter with his best friend but unbeknownst to him, yeonjun is technically a demon.;; Meeting along the way 3 peculiar boys; a wizard, an artist and an empathThey'll all need to start being honest with each other and uncover their masks if they're to complete what they set out for.( I can't really summarize all that well so please bear with me )
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu/Kang Taehyun, Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun
Comments: 16
Kudos: 74





	1. an epiphany

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first ever fic so I hope it doesn't turn out to be all too bad, this is only the beginning and hopefully by the end id have improved at least a little bit ,,, thank you for clicking on this story <3

Soobin had a sudden epiphany, all those years of not knowing what to do, not knowing what his true calling is- came to an end, because Soobin finally knew what he was meant to do, what his future was always supposed to be

becoming a professional demon hunter of course.

In his mind it made complete sense, he loved horror stories, loved exploring abandoned places and he loved helping people, not to mention his little talent of being a seer, Soobin has never really told anyone about that one though, he assumed no one would believe him so he kept it to himself. 

He’s sure that some people have demon problems that they need help with, he’d be like the pest control that you call when you have a rat problem but in this case, it’s a pesky little demon.  
Soobin could imagine it, they’d start out small and then maybe grow into a little company- he had even thought of a perfect slogan “licensed to kill, literally”. He’s proud of coming up with that, thinks it has a nice ring to it. 

The only thing missing was to go and tell his best friend Yeonjun about this spectacular idea, but he was sure that Yeonjun wouldn’t be against it, they’ve been together for a long time. In fact, Soobin can't exactly pinpoint the exact date Yeonjun came into his life because it felt like he’d been there since forever, quite literally popped up one day.

However, when he asks his mum she says that Yeonjun was a 5-year-old kid who saw 4-year-old Soobin crying in the park, under the slide because he’d scraped his knee and yeonjun had decided to show him “magic” to make him smile or so 4-year-old Soobin put it when his mum asked him what he did at the park that day. 

Soobin can’t really remember that day very well, nevertheless the “magic” he was so convinced of at the time but ever since then he and Yeonjun have been inseparable, the best of buds, like salt and pepper or bacon and eggs- point is that they’ve always supported each other, like that one time Soobin told a mean boy in preschool to leave him alone and Yeonjun “accidentally” spilled apple juice all over the boy's favorite shoes, the poor thing wouldn’t stop crying all week. 

or the time during middle school where Soobin convinced Yeonjun that they should go into his neighbor's house at midnight because they had a pool which neither of them had and the neighbors left for summer vacation, a perfect plan if you ask him. 

it’s one of soobins favorite memories if he were to be honest, they sat on a little raft, under the stars just talking and eating snacks all night. It was as if they were all alone in the middle of an ocean with only the darkness, the swish of water, and little whispers of their voices keeping them company. 

Just reminiscing that memory brings comfort to Soobin, because really Yeonjun was his safe place, someone he could always go to, could always count on, someone who always made him laugh and smile, but that’s what best friends are, aren’t they?

Anyways the point is that Soobin knows Yeonjun wouldn’t mind playing along and agreeing to his newfound dream, which is why he was surprised when Yeonjun looked a little taken aback with a perplexed look in his eyes after he’d suggested the idea 

“what do you mean you want to be a demon hunter?” sitting in an upright position now, Yeonjun questioned further “How would that even work? “  
Soobin wasn’t exactly expecting that reaction but he didn’t let it deter him “ one word- Reddit. We could start there, make a social media page, put up handouts in the street” getting up from his little corner he sat beside Yeonjun “c’mon junnie doesn’t it sound fun?” 

“ But we don’t even know how to kill demons bin” sounding a little exasperated Yeonjun let out a small sigh “it could be dangerous”

Getting a little closer to yeonjuns face Soobin continued with “ but we can always learn, I mean I already know the basics, I can teach you, and there are always precautions we can take to keep safe” 

“ yeah? Where’d you learn that from, the deep dark internet?” Yeonjun teased while going for soobins cheeks 

Soobin with his now slightly painted red cheeks came and sat up on Yeonjun with a pout “ no... from trusted places- books- podcasts-articles- from all different sources, exactly how they teach us to research in school Jun” holding yeonjuns hands now, Soobin looked at Yeonjun with eyes he knew that Yeonjun never could say no to, no matter how crazy the idea was “ please Jun? Can we at least try it out?“ 

Sighing, Yeonjun took one last look at soobins face before conceding “ fine, we can try it out, but if it doesn’t work out then we stop okay? You’ll listen to me whenever I say its time to end things” 

Nodding along to yeonjuns terms soobin was exhilarated, leaving a quick kiss onto yeonjuns forehead, Soobin let out a long line of thank yous’

Laughing a little to himself, Yeonjun felt his face slightly flush and so he pushed Soobin a bit “alright calm down bun, also please get off me now, you’re starting to feel a little heavy” he’d teased because really he was used to Soobin randomly clinging on him, if any of the last 14 years had a say 

Soobin had almost forgotten that he was sat on top Yeonjun so he got off with a huff , but then as if a light was switched he had this eerily creepy smile on his face as he turned and looked at Yeonjun

“ why’re you looking at me like that bin?” he squished soobins cheeks, “tell me you don’t have another out of this world perfect idea again” Yeonjun was teasingly mocking Soobin but what Soobin said next made him a little anxious because he'd initially assumed he had more time to think about how all this would work out. 

“ well yeonjunie, I almost forgot to tell you but we already have our first case ready to work on, I found it before coming over to tell you of my out of this world perfect idea, or so you put it” cheeky thing that soobin was 

and so with that, he gave Yeonjun a quick hug promising that they’d meet up tomorrow to talk all about the case because he has very important matters to attend to right now and can’t stay any longer ( his weekly family dinner that his mother would kill him for if he’d missed because his older siblings have college and aren’t around all the time) 

See in all honesty the reason Yeonjun was feeling a little nervous was because he had a secret that not even his best friend of 14 years knew, the only people that knew of it were his parents and that’s because they were the cause. It had to be kept a secret or else problems would start to rise, the council would come after them and so they spent his whole life keeping it a little secret

But now Binnie got him roped up into this and Yeonjun can only hope that it doesn’t end badly and explode in his face, too bad he can never deny Soobin of anything he asks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you liked it feel free to leave kudos so I know <3


	2. square one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> soobin presents a presentation all about demons to have yeonjun on the same page and gets called a nerd for it
> 
> (pls these summaries are very bad)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is a little longer than the one before- i really hope you enjoy it <3 thank you for clicking on my story

Soobin was exhausted, utterly and completely spent, He hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep because for the whole night he’d been working. See once he got home from yeonjuns house he quickly got dressed and came down for their oh so extravagant weekly family Friday dinners.

His brother had chosen to go with a nice pretty floral tie paired with a brown dress shirt and black slacks, his dad went all out with a turquoise jacket and yellow pants, kind of outlandish if you ask Soobin, his sister decided on wearing flowy white dress pants that matched quite well with her emerald green ruffled shirt and the last one to come to the table was his mother who was elegantly wearing a red long-sleeved open back dress.

He didn’t think twice before commenting “well you’re all dressed very- sophisticated? Tonight” Soobin let out with a slight chuckle.

His mother gave him a hard look before saying “ well honey, as usual, you didn’t listen to the dress code, you do know we said it was a business dinner theme today, right?, you didn’t listen last week either when we said it was under the sea” exasperated she took a seat and Soobin snorted “well I’m sorry if I don’t want to dress like a crab for dinner, in our living room mom”

Seeing how his mother got slightly saddened by that, Soobin didn’t want to upset her too much just before they ate so he went across the table and planted a kiss on her cheek “but hey look- at least I’m wearing a dress shirt, granted it is open and with a leather jacket over it but it’s still there” looking at her with his cheeky smile now

His mother let out a resigned sigh and motioned for him to go back to his seat so that they could finally start dinner, didn’t want all the food to get cold.

Dinner went as smoothly as it always did, just his siblings talking about college, his older sister going on and on about how hard the final year of Uni is with her graduate research paper.  
His brother just mentioned that his classes were going well, nothing new.

At last, dinner was over and he could escape to go to his own room, just as he was leaving soobins mother called out to him “ hey honey, don’t you want to watch the movie with us?” before he could reply his brother added on “we’re watching iron man today, we’ve also got ice-cream, your favorite”.

as nice as it would be to enjoy a movie with his family, he did have things he needed to work on so he turned around and said “as much as I’d love that, I have a project to work on, I’m doing it with Yeonjun”.

at the mention of yeonjuns name his mother’s face lit up immediately, Soobin swears he thinks his mother loves Yeonjun even more than him “ oh Yeonjun, do invite him over for next week’s dinner, he hasn’t come to one in a while” walking up the steps Soobin retorted “ he only didn’t come to last weeks but alright mum, ill mention it to him”.

Alone at last in his room, Soobin flopped onto his bed while letting out a big breathe, sure he loved his family but sometimes sitting with them felt a little suffocating.

Being the youngest he’d always been compared to his older siblings- both of them were successfully studying in their respective fields, a biochemist and a nuclear engineer.

It was expected of him to enter a stem subject and he couldn’t even fathom telling his parents he had even thought of not entering uni at all, tears started to prick at his eyes as Soobin slowly started feeling overwhelmed, his thoughts creeping in and consuming him, the pressure, the expectations, the disregard of what he wants but before the thoughts got too far he heard a ping and his phone flash.

Rolling over he took a deep breath to calm himself down and unlocked his phone. It was a text from Yeonjun, saying goodnight and that he’ll come over tomorrow morning, of course, it wouldn’t be a message from Yeonjun if it didn’t have a million emojis with it. Laughing to himself slightly Soobin wiped at his eyes quickly and replied with sleep well Junie <3.

Soobin truly was grateful for Yeonjun, he didn’t feel a huge tide of expectations when he was around him, heck he’d proposed being a demon hunter for a living and Yeonjun had accepted it, didn’t tell him that he could do so much more with his life, didn’t tell him that it was stupid or that he was only a child who didn’t understand how this world worked.

Sure Yeonjun had his perquisites but in the end, he had soobins back and for that he was beyond thankful, having such a supportive best friend wasn’t something everyone got lucky enough to be blessed with.

Getting up, Soobin finally got started on the matter at hand, the thing that kept him up all night and drained him of his energy completely. He was making a PowerPoint presentation with everything about the demon-hunting world, not only did he want Yeonjun to actually be convinced because he knows Yeonjun only agreed to this idea for his sake, but because he wants to be recognized by Yeonjun in a way, getting praised always made him feel better and he definitely wants to show off all the knowledge he’d accumulated.

See he’d always been interested in this stuff but the idea of pursuing it as a proper job never occurred to him before now though and so he got to work.

From explaining what a demon hunter is, to where they’d need to go to get their hunting tools and even safety measures they’d need to take.

surprisingly enough from thorough research and getting deep into the demon-hunting community threads and posts, he’d found out that there was this little shop in his town called T2, he had known of that shop as a place that just sells well, tea, however that happens to be just a front to what that shop actually sells and Soobin was feeling very eager to see what it holds.

He had tried to put in the history of demons in his presentation too but he couldn’t find all that much information on them except from what he already knew. It was known that the demon realm was ruled by the 7 deadly sins, those being: envy, gluttony, avarice, lust, pride, sloth, and wrath.

Soobins favorite out of them was the sin of wrath because there was this tale that the only thing that wrath couldn’t conquer and destroy was the pure love that a maiden gave to him; she’d accepted him as he was and saw more in him aside from the wreckage he’d caused- urging wrath to choose his own fate and not follow in what the world had expected of him or pushed him towards, that he was more than just his title, more than what he was forced to be, that he could be his own person.

In some weird way that tale resonated with Soobin, even if it wasn’t true, he found himself wistfully thinking about it a lot.

He’d also found out that there were apparently different tiers of demons, some say that the lower tier ones are those that terrorize humans because they’re sad souls who died and couldn’t pass on properly to the other realms, instead they’re stuck in between worlds, lost without a true purpose and so they cause havoc to everything around them.

Others in the community think that the higher tier demons can only be born as such, but no one really knows the whole entire truth, well maybe they do but Soobin doubts he’d find that information on a Reddit thread.

He ended his PowerPoint presentation with the first case he’d managed to find for them to work on, having already contacted the boy looking for help he had some information that they could start with

that brings us to the present moment: Soobin completely depleted of energy opening his house front door, face to face with Yeonjun

“ Well don’t you seem completely elated to see me, I can come back another time if you want” Soobin grimaced slightly at that and just ushered Yeonjun inside “it was a long night 'm just tired Jun”

Yeonjun nodded, he was just teasing Soobin after all, however, he did notice that something felt off about the other boy so when they got inside soobins room, Yeonjun went in for a hug, a little startled by this Soobin breathed out “uh Jun? Everything okay?” hearing that, Yeonjun only held on tighter retaliating with a “ yeah everything’s fine bun, just missed the bestest friend ever is all”.

They continued holding on to each other for a while longer until Soobin clapped his hands “let's get started, shall we? I have a whole presentation ready for you Jun” motioning for Yeonjun to get comfortable, Soobin opened up his laptop to present his hard work.

“you’re such a little nerd, aren’t you bun?” Yeonjun teased, Soobin let out a small huff “no,, just want you to be clear on everything from the start Jun”

Personally, Yeonjun thought it was adorable how whenever Soobin decides on doing something he’d put in all his effort and hold nothing back, he makes sure to research everything thoroughly and have a collection of information on hand to use whenever he’d need it, which is why he knew that Soobin had probably done a lot of digging before actually asking Yeonjun to join him in his newfound job idea, truly it was an attribute that Yeonjun admired Soobin for having, always has.

Sitting comfortably on soobins bed, Yeonjun watched him get up, all ready to start, Yeonjun would never admit it but he had a dumb smile on his face at that moment, and all throughout soobins presentation.

“...this brings us to our next point- where do we get our supplies? Lucky for you I know of a store only 30 minutes away, apparently they have everything we need, my only worry is that they won't allow us to buy from them”

Yeonjun turned his head a little to the side as if asking why and so before he had the chance of speaking out loud, Soobin continued “they might not sell to us because we’re still really young, from what I’ve gathered these places only really trust older people, they might not even let us see the other side of the store, but we have got to stay optimistic, no?”.

Yeonjun nodded with affirmation and so Soobin continued only to be stopped when he mentioned wrath and the dynamics of the demon world.

“what do you mean wrath is your favorite? He’s not that cool” quipped Yeonjun, feeling something odd brew at the bottom of his stomach

a little confused at yeonjuns sudden burst Soobin looks at him with a funny face and wryly comments “that’s what you stop me at? My interest in one of the 7 sins?”

Yeonjun shrugs “I’m just saying, he’s not that amazing of a sin, boring old man probably just sits around all day drinking coffee while reading old literature books” looking up into soobins doe eyes now, Yeonjun fidgets a little with his hands “not that I know or anything, I’m just assuming that life can't be all that interesting if you leave behind living as a demon council leader just to run away with your girlfriend”

A little astounded Soobin just looks at Yeonjun with an unreadable expression, was yeonjun getting jealous because of a _demon?_ , dismissing the thought as soon as it came, soobin just shook his head 

“moving on from your odd distaste towards the sin of wrath- we have our last topic to go over: the case of hueningkai; I know you’re about to ask, and hueningkai is a 17-year-old boy living in our city, he had a post-up asking for help because recently he’s noticed an odd thing with his plushies”.

Interrupting, Yeonjun puzzled “a 17-year-old who still sleeps with plushies?”

Soobin scoffed at that “Yeonjun you don’t see me judging you for your massive collection of anime girl figurines” walking over to Yeonjun, Soobin sat down Infront of him cross-legged and continued “anyways he says he wakes up from phantom caresses on his face, that it feels like somethings staring at him as he gets dressed, he’s even noticed that just walking out of the room and back in, things seem out of place, not to mention the odd sounds of bones cracking when he moved one of the dolls in the middle of the night the other day”

Yeonjun looked a little skeptical and so he questioned Soobin “and you trust that this boy is telling the truth? That he’s not playing a prank?”

Playing a little with his hands before answering, Soobin decided against telling Yeonjun the whole truth, instead, Soobin confessed that he’d actually contacted huening and face timed him, “Jun the poor boy looked terrified, I don’t think he’s just playing a dumb little joke”.

Truth is that Soobin saw this in a dream, being a seer he gets inclinations in his dreams, sort of like unclear messages or hazy feelings, that he could choose to follow or ignore, usually they’re just about small things, like the time he dreamt how acid was falling from the sky the day before he was supposed to go on a day field trip, ignoring the dream- Soobin went on the trip only to fall sick because of getting caught in the rain.

Whereas an example of the time, he did listen to the messages- he’d dreamt of cupcakes melting into pools of red, waking up he’d gone about his day except at school someone was handing out cupcakes- remembering the dream, Soobin felt a little nauseous and respectfully declined, turns out something was off in the cupcakes and everyone fell ill.

See Soobin doesn’t completely understand how this power works, in fact, for the longest time he didn’t even believe it was true- blamed everything on just coincidence, but if it happens one too many times, well it’s no longer a coincidence.

His power is very random and not clear-cut, not to mention that the thought of telling anyone about it scared him beyond belief, would they think he’s crazy? Would they think that he’s just lying for attention? Too afraid of those prospects, Soobin kept this odd phenomenon to himself- didn’t tell Yeonjun that he’d actually had a dream about this before he saw hueningkai post on r/supernatural  
Didn’t tell Yeonjun that he’d seen him in that dream, somehow talking to the demon and stopping his cries, it just didn’t make sense. So instead he forfeited confessing all of this and just went with “Jun I trust the boy somehow, I just have a feeling, I know he needs our help”

Yeonjun thought about it for a bit before caving in, he looked straight into soobins eyes and softly uttered“if you believe that it's true, then so do I bin, ill believe in you just this once” he’d teased at the end but regardless Soobin let out a big breathe of relief, a little excited he jumped on Yeonjun while screeching “oh Jun this is going to be so much fun”

Rolling off Yeonjun, Soobin looked up at his star-filled bedroom ceiling, feeling the excitement almost bubbling over because finally, at last, he has something to work towards, something he wants to do for himself and not because of what others want out of him.

Turning over to his side, now face to face with Yeonjun, Soobin said “ next stop- the T2 store”

What they both didn’t know was that one little magician that went by the name Kang TaeHyun would be there to greet them, help them or tell them to leave and never come back? They’ll have to wait and see for themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that brings us to the end of the second chapter,, I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to leave a comment with constructive criticism <3 I love knowing what I could do to better my writing and story . 
> 
> if you like the story so far do leave me a kudos so that I know you enjoyed it <3 have a great day darlings~


	3. enchanting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yeonbin and taehyun are arguing when beomgyu enters and shouts with surprise "KANG TAEHYUN YOURE A WITCH???" 
> 
> < again the summary is really bad>

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry this chapter took me a few days to put out- I had the essential structure planned out but writing it out properly took me a little longer. i hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you for clicking on my story <3

Feeling a little cold from standing outside, Soobin hugged his over-sized yellow jumper closer to his body as he turned to face Yeonjun “ you almost done Jun?,, I want to get there early before the store gets busy” Soobin slightly whined

Booping soobins reddening nose, Yeonjun swung his backpack over his shoulders “alright I’m ready, how’re we getting there?”

Hearing yeonjuns very plausible question- Soobin froze. _How could I have been so stupid as to forget our means of transportation_

Yeonjun noticed soobins little moment, having been best friends for 14 years, he’s learned to pick up on the little cues. “hey bin? we could take my bike? You could ride behind me?”

Soobin looked completely appalled at that suggestion “Jun we cant do that, they’ll think we’re immature kids, going to a magic store in a bike? A bike?? They won’t even allow us inside let alone buy something from them” Soobin huffed while lightly thumping his feet down in the way he always does when he gets frustrated- it’s how Yeonjun gave him the nickname bun, that and the fact that Soobin has cute little bunny teeth.

“well we can't take the bus bun, the stop is too far away and the next scheduled ride is in an hour,” Yeonjun said in an apologetic way as he looked at soobins disappointed expression

“so we’re done for- no magic- no demon-hunting- no nothing- it’s over” Soobin exasperated while he fell back down onto the grass with an overly dramatic heave

Yeonjun went over to Soobin and crouched down next to him, deciding to pull at soobins soft cheeks that were puffed out in the way they always were when he got upset

“hey- hey none of that, calm down bun, we can just take the bike and park it 5 minutes away from the store- then walk the rest of the way there, they won’t know what they can't see, right?”

Yeonjun could see the way soobins eyes immediately lit up at those words, Soobin did tend to let his anxiousness of things not being planned out properly cloud his judgment, but he’s lucky that he has Yeonjun to ground him a little during those moments.

Jumping up, Soobin wiped off the dirt that got on his pants and motioned for Yeonjun to show him the way to his mighty steed.

Looking at the bike Soobin faltered “I’m,,supposed to get on that?” Soobin pointed at the little bicycle seat “With you?”

Soobins hesitation was more than valid, considering they were both over 180cms tall with Soobin being the taller one out of the two

Scratching the back of his neck Yeonjun looked a little flustered when he promised that he wouldn’t let Soobin fall off

“alright but if I break my skull the hospital expenses are on you Jun” Soobin declared while sitting very close behind Yeonjun

They managed to find a position that worked for both of them- Yeonjun would pedal standing up holding on to the handles and Soobin would sit down holding on to Yeonjun to keep his own balance.

Feeling the chilly morning wind pass by them, Soobin held Yeonjuns body closer to him, enjoying the warmth that yeonjuns body heat provided- like the toasty feeling of cuddling yourself in a big blanket- Soobin slightly rubbed his face on yeonjuns back while letting out a content sigh. Not noticing the flush nor the increasing heartbeat of the one in front of him.

Yeonjun ended up pedaling faster

After about 25 minutes of their morning bike ride- the store was finally close enough that they could walk the rest of the way

slowing down before making a complete stop, Yeonjun told Soobin to put his feet down to steady the bike- and then he proceeded to jump off of it, shaking his little jazz hands after making the landing, it never failed to make Soobin laugh,,, yeonjuns dumb little antics.

Taking out a bike lock from his bag- Yeonjun locked the bike on a street pole, he hoped when they came back that they’d find it in the same place and not stolen,,, the hour walk home would be horrible.

“alright lead the way bun- where’s this magical store at”

After telling Yeonjun to follow him- Soobin walked the last 5 minutes to the store whilst following the directions google maps yelped out at him.

Alas they’ve finally reached a little store in the corner of the street- grey walls with one big red sign that read T2

Going up to the door they saw the slogan printed on it “ we are tea done differently” pushing the door open, Soobin and Yeonjun went in with the sound of a bell chime

The store was completely empty- just rows and rows of different types of tea. However it was all color-coded- there was orange-red- green and even purple

Even better was the aroma of the store- absolutely delightful.

The smell of lavender and matcha particularly stood out – perhaps because they were being brewed and so the delectable smell spread all around the store

Before the two boys could take another step forward they heard a voice politely ask “ how may I help you today?”

Looking to where the voice came from they saw not a small boy per se but definitely shorter than them with bright cherry colored hair

Upon seeing him Soobin blurted out “eggnog”

A little bewildered the boy uttered, “ uh excuse me?”

Mumbling to himself Soobin wondered if he’d remembered the code word wrong so he tried again “eggnog”

“you do realize I heard you the first time right?” cherry boy bemusedly said

Feeling a little embarrassed soobins ears started to turn as red as the boy's hair and he pulled his sweater paws a little tighter

Yeonjun watching the whole exchange let out an amused laugh and got straight to the point “ I can tell you’re using glamour magic to hide the real store so let’s just get to business ” looking down he read cherry boys name tag “taehyun”

Soobin a little dumbfounded whispered to Yeonjun “how’d you know it was glamour magic?” Yeonjun just shrugged at that and said lucky guess- Soobin doesn’t know that Yeonjun could quite literally feel the energy the moment they entered the store.

Letting out a defeated sigh, taehyun gave them one look before deciding to click his fingers and with that, the store turned back into its true form

Soobin just assumed the store had a back section with the demon-hunting things- he didn’t think that the whole store was just glamour

Taehyun didn’t really need to do this ,, he could have pretended that the two boys were spewing complete nonsense,, however something about them made his gut feeling allow them entry- he doesn’t know everything but he has a feeling that something is off about them- especially with the blue-haired boys aura- it's not normal.

Soobins eyes widened at that moment because no longer were there rows of different flavored teas – instead, there were weapons: swords, bows and arrows, blades, – magical books, both black and white magic– glass bottles with a hazy mist in them,, are those souls? Amulets and crystals of all colors; more than what you could imagine- not to mention the wide variety of herbs

Soobin basked in the stores entire being with the utmost wonder glimmering in his eyes- this was his dream fruiting to life after all. He wondered around a little until he felt an immense pull to one particular sword.

There it sat a little hidden in the back- a glass long sword- an ethereal katana- the reflective light made the gold and silver specs inside of it glisten and shine.

walking towards it Soobin audibly awed- it was beyond beautiful- a truly majestic item and just as he was about to touch it he heard a voice behind him shout “don’t lay a finger on that- it’s not for sale”

Taehyun walked over and noticed the curiosity in soobins eyes and so he decided to let Soobin in on some history- the boy did seem interested and taehyun had nothing to lose.

“ the sword is called the dirge” taehyun informed standing beside Soobin but before he could continue he got rudely interrupted “what type of stupid name is dirge?”

Taehyun rolled his eyes at that and replied sassily “Maybe if you weren’t so bad at literature and had a wide range of vocabulary you’d know that dirge means a mournful song- a piece of music or sound” he looked straight at yeonjuns now bashful face before continuing

“back when this sword was used to get rid of demons- the sound of the blade was the last thing they’d hear as if it were a song calling out for them- the old tale says that the blade actually sings for the demons out of respect as it cries for them- because it feels bad for what these souls have become- that they’ve lost all their worth and must be eradicated forever, completely ceasing to exist”

Both Soobin and Yeonjun were immediately touched after knowing the history behind the sword,, feeling apologetic for calling the name stupid when really he was just ignorant- Yeonjun apologized and taehyun accepted it with a slight nod of his head.

Soobin looked at taehyun with his pretty big puppy dog eyes and asked if he could please hold the sword- just for a little bit- he promised not to drop it and that he’d return it to its exact position.

Taehyun couldn’t let his own curiosity go- still sensing something off about both boys and so he allowed Soobin to hold the sword- just to test his theory. It wouldn’t hurt, would it?

Because truth is that this sword is an heirloom of sorts in taehyuns family bloodline. The sword chooses its owner and it lights up based on that owners level of pureness- its how it kills demons after all

Through the energy of a completely pure soul. However for the past few decades, no one has been enough for the sword to accept them- so it laid dormant as a decorative piece in the store for people to admire its beauty instead of being put to work

So you can imagine taehyuns complete shock when the sword lit up white and blinding- the shining light that came out of it filled the room entirely- it was ethereal.

“Woah that’s fucking sick,, does it always do this?” Soobin asked with an excited little bounce

But before taehyun could tell him that no- it In fact is not normal – Yeonjun quickly took the sword from him very eagerly “my turn now”

The minute Yeonjun held onto the sword something even more shocking happened – it lit up, but instead of how history always described it as a bright white light- this time it shun a glowing crimson.

“oh my fucking god - it’s like a real-life lightsaber” Soobin exclaimed beaming with excitement

Taehyun started growing a little anxious because he didn’t understand why this was happening nor why it had to be on the one week his grandmother left the store for him to take care of alone- and so he decided to take the sword away from both of the boys and put it back in its rightful place- watching as it dimmed down and came back to the crystal clearness that he was used to seeing.

Yeonjun noticed taehyuns sudden demeanor change and asked if everything was okay

“no- everything is not okay- something that hasn’t happened in decades decided to occur and something that has never happened in the history of all time-also decided y’know what?? Now is the perfect time to show myself all within five fucking minutes” starting to feel a little light-headed after working himself up taehyun took a seat to calm himself down

“you mean to say we’re like the chosen ones??” walking over to Yeonjun, Soobin took yeonjuns hands in his own and started jumping up and down “SEE JUN I TOLD YOU- I HAD A FEELING THIS WAS MY FATE -OUR TRUE CALLING AND THIS MAGICAL LITTLE SWORD FURTHER PROVES MY POINT” Soobin beamed like an overly excited child

But instead of getting the same excitement back- Soobin just saw yeonjuns slight grimace

Yeonjun realized that he had made a mistake. a big mistake- He wasn’t careful enough- got too caught up in the theatrics of a sick looking sword that he didn’t think about how this could be dangerous- completely forgot he was in a magical store- how it slipped his mind- he doesn’t know. His dad is going to have a field day when he gets back home.

Before Soobin could question Yeonjuns grimace– taehyun finally asked the question that’s been on his mind for a couple of minutes now “who are the both of you?”

Soobin decided to talk to Yeonjun later about that little mishap- choosing to turn to taehyun now and with a big bright smile he said “ I'm soobin- 18-year-old soon to be demon hunter- this right here” pointing to Yeonjun now “is my best-friend Yeonjun- who is also going to kick demon butt with me”

Taehyun looked over both of them,, demon hunters? They seem very amateurish and not educated enough to find demons let alone kill them,,

“and have you ever been in contact with a demon? Killed one?” taehyun questioned

Feeling a little embarrassed Soobin said no but Yeonjun not liking to see Soobin put down retorted “but you’ve got to start somewhere right? No ones born with a long list of demon deaths they’ve caused”

Perking up a little because of yeonjuns statement Soobin continued with “Jun is right- besides we have our first case waiting for us- he really needs our help ”

See now taehyun had two choices- he could help these 2 random kids because for some reason he has a feeling that sticking with them will bring around even more wonders- or he could ignore them and tell them that he cant sell anything to them since they don’t have a demon hunting license yet.

Technically he wouldn’t be lying- these are the rules,, but maybe he could make an exception just this time,, he’ll deal with his grandmother's wrath when the time came,, for now, taehyun is choosing to follow what his instincts are telling him.

“well you can’t kill demons without the proper tools” taehyun ushered the two boys to a brown table with a variety of cards on it- instead of picking up the ones on top of it- taehyun took out a key from his pocket- about to unlock a secret compartment- taehyun wavered for a second and decided to speak first “ill allow you to use them on one condition- I join your little demon hunting escapade“

“what no- why” Yeonjun piqued

Crossing his arms across his chest- taehyun looked straight at the two boys “because quite frankly I don’t trust either of you with any of our tools- take it as a trial period- if I deem you fit enough to use our products- ill sell you whatever you want next time”

Soobin thought about it and honestly, it was a very good deal- after all, he did think that getting kicked out of the store was a liable outcome

Putting out his hand he waited for taehyun to shake it “alright, it’s a deal then- welcome to the demon hunter club Kang taehyun ”

Taking the key back into his hand- taehyun unlocked the secret compartment and took out a deck of cards.

“ a set of cards? How’re they supposed to help with capturing demons- aren’t they usually used for telling fortunes?” Soobin asked  
Taehyun was slowly getting annoyed with how the boys kept interrupting him before he could say anything

“first of all stop assuming things” softening his gaze, taehyun continued “I don’t expect you to know these things so just wait, listen and learn“

Shuffling through the cards taehyun flicked one up and a dark horse-shaped mist came galloping out- it moved all across the room before taehyun clicked his fingers once more- and as fast as it came out, it was gone again.

Soobin and Yeonjun looked a little mesmerized by that feat- both for their own reason.

Soobin having seen a demon for the first time and well Yeonjun didn’t know that anyone besides the higher-ups could take control of the lower-tier demons- he suddenly had lots of questions for his dad to answer.

Letting out a not so subtle cough- taehyun brought both boys out of their little daze and started explaining what this little deck of cards actually was

The card set is actually called arcadia. You can trap the demons in them- inside the cards is a simple quite place.

The cards are able to hold the lost demons in a safe world where all the demon sees is their utmost want and pleasure.  
Essentially these souls couldn’t pass onto the other world for whatever reason so they got stuck in between realms becoming what is known as the lower tier demon that causes hurting and pain. Arcadia takes them into another world where they can finally rest- granted it is a fake world,, but once the demons see it, they think they’ve found purpose again and so they make a contract with the hunter who captured them- they get to stay in arcadia but in turn, the one who caught them can use them in whatever way they see fit.

For this reason Arcadia isn’t available to everyone and only a select few are trusted with the knowledge of its existence

Taehyun didn’t know why he told two complete strangers about arcadia- nor did he know why he was going to let them use it- all he knew was that a sixth sense was ringing loudly and he was going to listen to it- after all a wizard who didn’t trust his own instincts wasn’t a real wizard at all.

After hearing about the cards- Soobin and Yeonjun seemed to have a one-track mind “ SO BASICALLY ITS YUUGIOH BUT IN REAL LIFE BUT WITH DEMONS?”

Shaking his head taehyun thought about what a mess he’d gotten himself involved in before chiming in “NO ITS NOT YUUGIOH- its real magic-Do you take my bloodlines work as a joke? This is serious business”

Yeonjun scoffed “relax dude- we’re just joking around- at least I didn’t say that whole sword thing reminded me of thor- chosen one? Really?”

“Oh my god I totally forgot about that- Jun- Junie are we going to be the avengers of the demon-hunting world? I call being ironman because he’s obviously the best avenger” Soobin was more than excited

“Are you dumb?? Scarlet witch is most definitely the best avenger- homegirl is powerful as fuck” Yeonjun countered

Taehyun wasn’t excited, In fact, he was getting frustrated. He can't for the life of him understand why they were acting like this- “ do you think demon hunting is a game? Do you think that magic is a game? You do realize that it could all become very dangerous very fast, right?” taehyun exploded.

Before Soobin or Yeonjun could retort they heard someone clear their throat – looking behind them they saw a boy their age with chestnut-colored hair

“uh- sorry to interrupt but I think I entered the wrong store?” the boy said before muttering that he was sure this was where the tea place he always came to was supposed to be- looking around the boy realized that this was definitely not the T2 he knew of- - instead he saw labels such as demon energy stones?- and an enchanting bow that seemed to call out his name.

Taehyun let out a big sigh- he’d gotten too engrossed in the little squabble that he forgot to keep up the glamour for outsiders- turning around he was ready to knock the boy out with a click of his fingers so he could then perform the memory wiping magic but just as he turned his head back the boy shouted

“Kang taehyun? Prim and proper taehyun from school? WAIT A MINUTE I KNOW THAT THIS A MAGICAL STORE WITH WITCHY THINGS- ARE YOU A WITCH? DO U HAVE A CRYSTAL BALL?”

As if the day couldn’t get worse- Choi beomgyu- someone taehyun obviously hasn’t kept an eye on ever since they were kids- he definitely didn’t have a crush on him nor was he the boy taehyun wished to become friends with for the past 12 years- just happened to enter the store the minute tae wasn’t focusing and uncovered the big secret.

“hi beomgyu” taehyun breathed out “ and no I am not a witch you heathen- I am a wizard”

Taehyun would beat himself up over being too complacent and not paying enough attention later.

Yeonjun and Soobin looked at each other before asking “so you two know one another ?”

“not really” motioning his hands towards beomgyu, taehyun introduced him to the other two boys

“now I wasn’t really eavesdropping on your conversation earlier- I just happened to enter at the mention of demon hunting” beomgyu said with sparkling eyes

“ no -no- I know exactly where this is going, and the answer is no” Yeonjun said with a hard voice

“oh come on, wouldn’t it be fun- the more the merrier right?? Especially with demon hunting- one more set of hands at your disposal” beomgyu insisted

Shaking his head Soobin retorted with an apologetic shrug “sorry dude- but three is already a crowd”

Taking one last chance- beomgyu turned to face taehyun “ tae- where’s my we’ve basically known each other for practically our whole lives but have never had a proper conversation before rights? Please?” beomgyu begged while letting out his killer puppy dog eyes

Taehyun tried- he really did- and he was most definitely not feeling giddy inside over beomgyu’s use of the word /we/ nor was he completely enthralled in beomgyu’s utterly adorable face

No, he just thought that another set of hands would be good- safer.

So he turned back to yeonjun and soobin and declared “he’s coming” with no place for discussion

There were three different reactions to that;

Soobin sighing oh well- it is what it is

Yeonjun calling out whipped which made taehyun slightly flush whilst telling Yeonjun to shut up

And at last beomgyu’s big yes and sudden hug towards taehyun-

Taehyun was fine- he was functioning- there were demons from hell here in the store- that’s the only plausible reason towards his face becoming so red.

Nevertheless, the demon-hunting gang finally assembled and they were excited- /well 3 out of the 4 to be exact/ to tackle their first case; hueningkai and his eerily creepy plushies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that brings us to the end of the third chapter <3 thank you for reading it,,, feel free to leave me a comment- I love constructive criticism and how I could better my story,, don't forget to leave a kudos too if you're enjoying the story so that I know <3 it truly motivates me knowing that someones enjoying my writing- as amateurish as it is


	4. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> taehyun gives the boys a very needed briefing that resulted in yeonjuns conflicting thoughts and a one on one session with beomgyu - before going to the meeting with hueningkai where the boy is nowhere near what they were expecting.
> 
> <<<>>

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank youuuu for clicking on this chapter- it took me quite a while to put out because i got really busy with my family,, anyways i hope you enjoy it <3

Chapter 4: revelations   
Sat together on a table in the back storage room, taehyun had all 3 boys focused on what he was saying,, he’d decided that they all needed a big briefing if they were to even approach demons; considering how dangerous things could get and really the meeting was going smoothly until a light started flickering on and off.

"I can’t be the only one who thinks the light flickering is way too horror movie creepy, right?" Beomgyu quipped while looking at the others but taehyun just shook his head 

"please just focus on what I’m saying and not the brightness of the room ,,this store has a protection spell on it so no demons can get in unless we give them permission to- so no horror movie here" taehyun muttered sarcastically 

Putting his face atop his hands now, beomgyu looked back at taehyun with a grin "now that I think about it, I do know the least out of the four of us -how about you give me a one on one lesson after this meeting is done? " 

Yeonjun noticed the glint in beomgyu’s expression and took the hint "I think that would be a good idea- me and bin do have some background knowledge after all and I don’t really know if I’d be able to trust beomgyu to come with us otherwise" 

Beomgyu wasn’t expecting a wing man, perhaps this was the start of a great new friendship he thought to himself as his eyes flashed back to taehyun

“do you like coffee taehyun? Beans ‘n cream make a mad mocha” beomgyu suggested with a /very/ innocent smile,, he just wanted to learn more about demons,, no ulterior motives here,,promise.

Soobins eyes flickered between both conspiring boys with a questioning look "can we please stop planning a date and focus on the Matter at hand ,, demons?? We have to come up with a plan before we meet hueningkai tomorrow" 

At soobins comment taehyun flushed and then continued albeit a little dazed" uh right right,, demons,, where were we... so as I’ve already said, the demon realm is ruled by a council; they’re what we know as the 7 deadly sins. They have one big boss man in charge of them; their father – good old Satan. The sins are considered high tier demons; meaning they can only be born as such” 

Soobin pipped in excited “ SO THAT REDDIT THREAD WAS RIGHT,, HIGHER TIER DEMONS CAN ONLY BE BORN THAT WAY” 

soobins excitement reminded taehyun of when he was a beginner himself being introduced to magic for the first time – when his eyes were opened up to the wonders this universe held ,, in a way it was very endearing and so he continued with a small smile decorating his face “yes, higher tier demons can shape shift and essentially live normally, you wouldn’t be able to tell if one decided to visit the human realm and stood in front of you. in fact there have been rumours going on for years that wrath ran away into the human realm with his human wife- some say it’s because she became pregnant but that’s impossible,, demon-human relationships cant happen” 

"Why?" 

"Its forbidden,, and well no child has ever survived the birth" 

Having watched the exchange silently Yeonjun suddenly started coughing - he was gasping for some air to try and regualte his uneven breathing- face reddening a little when he noticed how all 3 heads had turned towards him, one of them with a more concerened look because of the sudden coughing fit and so yeonjun shook his hands as he reassured “must be coming down with a little cold” a sniffle followed after- it seemed that yeonjun was trying to sell the lie. 

Beomgyu nonchalantly accepted that reasoning before going back to their main topic “right,, so if those are the higher tier demons -there have to be lower tier ones- what are they?”

“in general lower tier demons are made as such- they’re stuck ; they can be controlled and they usually don’t have a set shape- they look like little shadows or mists of dark energy but not all of them are bad- there are actually four classes” taehyun answered 

Yeonjun jumped in before taehyun could continue “ oh? How will we know which ones we should kill then? If not all of them are bad- wouldn’t that mean most are also misunderstood and yet their existence gets completely erased for no reason?” 

surprised at yeonjuns sudden interruption, taehyun was a little taken aback- he’d never really thought about it like that before, after all ever since he was a kid; its been ingrained in his head not to have empathy for demons- since well they / _do_ / cause harm

however taehyun did recall learning about an extinct race called the átélés- it was said that they were an extremely calm and soothing people- all who came in contact with them felt inner peace – even demons,, its said that they were hunted down because of how powerful they became,, demons loved being around them- in an odd way they felt happy around the átélés and so they formed a friendship. Instead of a contract where the demons are forced to do things- this time they did it out of want to please the one who brought them contentment. 

Instead of taehyun, it was Soobin who replied “well isn’t eradicating their existence helping them? They’re stuck in between realms with no purpose and so they’re really just waiting for it all to end, no? Who wants to just linger around for the end of _eternity_?” shrugging Soobin proclaimed “we’re really doing them a favour if you think about it” 

Yeonjun felt so conflicted- but he couldn’t very well just come out and say why, could he? No,, he dismissed the thought very fast, they’d never understand. They wouldn’t understand the constant turmoil he suffered through of hearing demons cry, no one knew the pain of hearing their wails at night, the way they whimper and whine. 

Sure he couldn’t see them unless they decided to show themselves- being a half breed and all, but he could hear them- their voices seemed to never stray too far from his listening ears.  
  
And so he knew first hand that not all demons were bad - some lived in regret wondering what they did wrong to stop their passing. They live in never-ending wonder on why they deserved such a fate- were they really that bad of a human? Was their soul so sour that they weren’t even worthy of rest? Did their actions really warrant an eternity of pain and emptiness? 

Sometimes the demons who ended up stuck in the middle- well they’re not all bad people- sometimes the fates just choose to have your soul there, to keep the balance of the worlds, a little unfair if you asked Yeonjun but nothing much can be done to change it. 

Yeonjun can’t really just tell the boys in front of him all of this so he succumbs for now and goes along with their initial plans 

Deciding to cut the odd tension in the room beomgyu claps his hands with a big alright “so since we’re _killing_ them” he says with quotation hands “how are we going to do that? Also tae didn’t really finish telling us about the classes” 

Taehyun gets back to his senses with the mention of his name – /his thoughts having strayed a little thinking about the átélés/ 

“yeah 4 classes; first are those who cause havoc and problems out of hatred towards everyone- they don’t really stick around for long,, second is those who cause havoc out of love for someone- they get attached and start feeling possessive, third are those who just float mindlessly- they usually stick around people with good energy- they never interact with humans” 

Eyes wide with interest Soobin asked what the last class was

“well they’re the most dangerous- we call them occisors- they usually cause the most damage because they do it out of love for disaster, they enjoy causing pain for no reason- seeing terror in the eyes of their prey gets them off,, we’ll try our best to stay away from them because we’re in no way capable of dealing with them yet” taehyun stated making sure to look at each of the three boys because he was completely serious about this,, the last thing they’d want to do now is run into an occisor 

“we can tell which is which by the energy they give off,, it’s not really exact but it gives us a rough idea- now onto how we’ll kill them,, well I’ve already told you about dirge and arcadia,, Soobin can use the dirge- and Yeonjun can be in charge of arcadia,,”  
  
Pouting beomgyu asked “what about me?” 

Getting up , taehyun brought back a silver bow with vine shaped mists of green running through it, putting the bow on the table in front of beomgyu, taehyun replied “this right here is for you”  
  
Beomgyu’s eyes grew wide when he saw it- It was the bow that caught his attention when he first entered the store,, _what did the sign say it was called? Lepidus?_

But looking at it- he realized there were no arrows,, a little puzzled he questioned “ a bow without any arrows?? How am I supposed to do anything with that??” 

“Lepidus uses your own energy as arrows- you concentrate your energy and imagine the shape of an arrow” walking around the table, taehyun now stood a good meter away from the boys. 

Gracefully moving his slender fingers in motions only he understood- taehyun felt the energy gather around his hands and from his years of training- he was quickly able to form the shape of an arrow. 

In seconds that arrow multiplied and soon the whole room was filled with glittering energy- not just arrows but targets as well- demonstrating how this power could be used- the arrows flew. 

The boys around him were mesmerized,, gasping ,, eyes sparkling– especially beomgyu. The way taehyun knew exactly what he was doing,, so confident in himself and his actions. That and maybe beomgyu’s most binged anime genre was the magical ones- so you can imagine the big heart eyes he had for tae at that moment.

“since you’re not equipped enough to do this on your own and we don’t have the time for me to teach you how to concentrate your energy- I’m giving you this ring” taehyun carefully tossed a silver metal ring to beomgyu 

“ I will need to help you learn how to visualize the arrows though,, the ring just concentrates your energy on your hands,, you being in art classes since primary school is definitely a plus- ,, we could uh- do that after the meeting? Before we go to,,what was the place called? Cream ‘n beans?” taehyun suggested a little bashful

Well paint beomgyu surprised- he was not expecting taehyun to actually accept his invitation- ecstatic he quickly replied “yeah for sure, we could definitely do that- also it’s called beans ‘n cream by the way” beomgyu teased, only getting a small “whatever-same thing” in return. 

“again- it is not the time to be planning dates- can we please get back to our main topic; hueningkai?” Soobin slightly whined 

Yeonjun decided to finally speak having been quite for a while “well from what you’ve told us about the case; it seems like they’re the second lower tier class? I think they’re called Amare- anyways it doesn’t seem like they’re out to harm kai- they are however interacting so maybe it’s grown a liking towards him?” 

Taehyun nodded in agreement – he also thought that they’re more likely to be the second tier. They did decide to inhibit kais plush toys which gives off the feeling that they’re looking for affection since it’s an item he always sleeps with. Taehyun then warned the boys that they’d need to tread carefully because this class of demons tended to get jealous very fast- so its better for them to meet with kai and go over the plan somewhere far from the demons residence. 

Meeting adjourned Soobin and Yeonjun bid the other two boys farewell and left the room to take the 5 minute walk back to yeonjuns bike. Just as they were about to exit the store taehyun called out to them “ I know you have a bike chained up a mile away” 

“FUCK JUNIE I TOLD YOU THEY’D KNOW” 

Yeonjun only laughed in response and ushered an appalled Soobin in front of him. Whispering in soobins ear that it’s not a big deal as they went along. 

Hearing the chime of the bell – beomgyu scooted over and took the seat that was right next to taehyuns “lets start this little visualisation lesson of yours then” he’d said with a cheeky grin.   
  


Getting up taehyun opened a little jar filled with clear oval shaped pills "since you cant materialize your energy yet- this will help you out" he said while handing one pill over 

  
Even though beomgyu was A little bit skeptical of the pills promise he took it from taehyuns hand and swallowed without the need for water

Letting out a small breathe as he went to sit back down, taehyun prepared himself for what’s to come. Turning to the side so he’d be face to face with beomgyu- he took beomgyu’s slightly bigger rougher hands in his own slender ones.

Letting out a small breathe taehyun prepared himself for what’s to come. Turning to the side so he’d be face to face with beomgyu- he took beomgyu’s slightly bigger rougher hands in his own slender ones. 

Looking into beomgyu’s now slightly nervous eyes he softly muttered “close your eyes” 

Following taehyuns instructions – beomgyu did as he was told and fluttered his eyes closed, hearing a quite good in return. 

“focus on my voice, okay?” beomgyu replied with a nod of his head. 

With that taehyun started guiding him. “focus your thoughts on a shape- for now something small- think of the image as if it were a blank sketch book, with every passing moment the flipping of the pages gets faster and it goes from pencil- to a traced picture- to a block coloured one and then shading and highlights- slowly the image starts to become clear- the colour- the texture- think of the scent as well. Once you have a solid mental image- turn that two-dimensional shape into something more three dimensional – think of all the ridges- the curves it could have- what would it look like if it fell to the ground? What type of sound would it make? Feel the energy you hold within and slowly like an open faucet let it trickle out ” 

Beomgyu listened closely- the first thing that popped into his head was flowers; more precisely a windflower. At the thought he could see the stem growing- a flower bud not following too behind. 

In bloom the pretty petals showed themselves blossoming into an alluring lavender. The fresh smell of a rainy morning followed after- a gust of wind picked the flower up and all of a sudden like a wave more of them popped up floating through the sky- going high up only to crash down into a bed of even more windflowers ,, a sea of pinks and purples began to fill beomgyu’s mind along with the sound of the whistling wind that carried them.

A gasp escaping from taehyuns mouth was what snapped beomgyu out of his imagination. Opening his eyes he saw how wide taehyuns got- they were glimmering with complete surprise- and was that,,admiration? 

Apparently all over beomgyu’s body a golden glowing energy sprouted out in the form of flowers that prettily decorated his skin. Taehyun knew that beomgyu’s visualisation would be good because well he was an amazing artist whom tae always admired from afar during classes but this- he never expected this. In all honesty the sight was mesmerising and taehyun was beyond taken by it. 

“what- don’t tell me you’ve fallen for me now?” beomgyu teased getting a slap to the arm as retaliation 

This was nice he thought- comfortable- smiling to himself, he proceeded to ask about what just happened

Taehyun informed beomgyu that this meant he was perfect for the job- the reason the flowers sprouted out everywhere was because beomgyu hasn’t learned how to concentrate his energy in one place but the fact that they even showed up / _on the first try_ / proved how strong his mental strength was. 

It was funny how the fates worked,, in some weird way taehyun started to feel an inclination that the boys gathering up was meant to be- in a way he felt that its what you would call destiny- no other word could describe the weird phenomena’s that kept occurring today. 

Dismissing the sudden train of thought, taehyun reached out to pick up the ring that was left on the table. Holding beomgyu’s hands once more- he slid the ring onto his finger.  
"At least take me out on an official date before proposing"   
The comment definitely made taehyun blush but deciding to ignore it he cleared his throat “try the visualisation again but with arrows this time” 

The two continued practicing for a solid three hours before taehyun deemed beomgyu’s arrows good enough to deal some damage. 

The arrows seemed to be shaped like long flowy thorns- taehyun put a mental note to ask about beomgyu’s odd fixation with flowers at a later date. 

Feeling proud of the progress that they’ve managed in such a short amount of time- taehyun shyly announced that he’d be paying for beomgyu’s coffee today- as a treat for working so hard.

He only got beomgyu lifting his eyebrows up and down suggestively in response before winking and saying “I knew you fell for me the minute you saw how magical I was- you witchy nerd” 

Taehyun just shook his head before flicking beomgyu on the forehead “wizard not a witch-don’t make me regret inviting you out” 

Closing up the shop they both left to their technically not a date - date. 

Taehyun ordered a sweet bubble tea and beomgyu had the stores “mad good mocha” as he put it earlier. 

The conversation was surprisingly flowing very naturally-it really had felt like they’ve been friends for all 12 years instead of being essentially,, well strangers. There was no awkward silence,, it just felt right.

soon enough they were both laughing over bad reminisced memories they had of each other at school 

Eyes slightly teary from laughing and smile wide taehyun recalled another memory he had “remember back in 9th grade when we had a healthy breakfast class competition and our class chose harry potter for the theme? The principal got so mad shouting calling us witches and how we were all sinning against god?” 

Cracking up beomgyu nodded his head “oh my god yes- someone literally just did the prosthetic harry scar on my face before she told us to wipe it off and get rid of everything” 

“ dude we put in so much effort into that- people literally made paper hats and wands- we totally should’ve won,, sinners my ass,, they’re just boring” 

Looking at taehyun fondly now, beomgyu agreed “ huh- what would they think if they saw us now,, demon hunting magic users” 

Chuckling slightly taehyun answered “oh they’d have a full on fit- our high school really was something else” 

The conversation then took a turn into taehyun explaining more things about the demon realm,, the difference between a witch, wizard and warlock because for the millionth time;; taehyun was most definitely not a witch .

He was also pulled in to answer some dumb questions that beomgyu decided to ask like “have you ever used a spell that made you able to understand animals? I’ve always wondered what turtles had to say- they seem like the wise type right? Would give you good advice”

Turns out they spent more than a couple hours in that cafe because by the time they bid each other goodbye- it was very dark out. The light from the moon keeping both of them company. 

They walked their own ways home- each respectively lost in their own thoughts but one thing they both seemingly had in common was that they’d love to get another coffee,, maybe they could hangout again tomorrow- after the meeting with hueningkai. 

  
The next day Yeonjun met up with Soobin early in the morning but as usual Soobin was a little stressed, his tiny obsession with always being on time causing him to be slightly anxious.

“bin relax, we agreed on 10 am at crown gardens” 

Not replying Soobin just grabbed yeonjuns hand “ let’s go” he grumbled as he pulled Yeonjun along to the bus stop 

Well he's in a weird mood this morning,,, must've had a bad dream yeonjun thought to himself. 

18 minutes later and they were stood in front of the parks gates ; walking in they heard someone burst out in cheerful laughter

looking towards the source of the sound they saw the familiar faces of beomgyu and taehyun-however it seemed that the laugh came from the boy whose back was facing towards them. 

“hey guys, is that hueningkai with you?” Soobin asked as he and Yeonjun walked over towards where the boys were sat

However it was neither taehyun nor beomgyu who replied- instead the boy in question turned around and answered with an oddly cheery face “that would be my name, nice to meet you” with a small wave of his hands. 

Whatever soobin was expecting- it was definitely not this. Hueningkai didn't look like the scared kid he'd facetimed a week or so ago,, infact he seemed very calm,, almost at peace

Not to mention the outfit he happened to be wearing, dressed in a long white flowy skirt and a light beige pullover one size too big- hueningkai screamed soft

"Well are you just going to stare at me all morning- dont tell me, is it the outfit?" Kai teased

Startled soobin quickly reassured " no-no of course not- we totally support freedom of expression in fashion-- right junie?"

Looking over yeonjun replied "right right- boys in skirts- we love it"

"Yeah i would definitely want to try one out- no predjudice here" soobin said however missing the way yeonjuns eyes got wide at the statement 

The other 3 boys did not 

Snorting hueningkai moved over and motioned for them to take a seat 

Barely a minute passes and soobin is unable to contain his curiousity -turning to look at kai he questioned" im sorry- I can't help but ask why you're so oddly calm and laughing??" now a little more bashful " its not that i want you to be shaking in fear - dont get me wrong- but I'd assumed you were completely terrified based on our facetime call?" 

Thinking back to how soobin had explained the urgency of this case yeonjun decided to comment as well "it is a little odd how your whole demanour drastically changed " 

Laughing slightly to himself- hueningkai thought that this was a very valid query. Considering he was really spooked but,, something changed?

He doesnt really know how to explain it- one night he was staring up at his ceiling and thought about how the demons well- they weren't hurting him- he started thinking that maybe the sound of cracking bones was their way of showing him their pain- that for some reason he started feeling an odd sense of familiarity around them. It made no sense to him - what was he to say? I suddenly felt sorry? Sympathetic? 

" serenity is an odd thing- sometimes it just decides to appear" hueningkai decided to say with a small shrug 

Taehyun already had his suspicions from how carefree hueningkai was talking earlier without soobin and jun- however soobin coming right out and direcrly asking- well it only further confirmed his suspicions. He definitely had some digging to do once he got home.

Beomgyu was the one to reply "oh yeah totally- sometimes when im really scared of sleeping in the dark at home- im like ah fuck it- if the monster is gonna eat me, its gonna eat me- no point in being scared- then boom- super calm beomgyu" 

"That's just you being an idiot gyu" yeonjun retorted while patting beomgyu on the shoulder - like a mother calming her child- except now you have a muscular child pushing the mother away, /almost falling off the chair/- whilst muttering a quick shuttup -resulting in a fit of laughter from said mother. 

Wanting to change the topic and make the mood a little more light hearted hueningkai asked "Would you ever date a demon?" 

A little surprised at the sudden question that came out of no where- soobin decided to answer; it wouldn't be the first time he'd actually thought about this

" i mean higher tier demons sure-they are basically like humans but with a little spice- like imagine you die right- you go to the hell and boom- " but before soobin could continue taehyun interrupted frustrated "why are we having this discussion right now? " 

Yeonjun only shushed him with a finger to his lips in response "let the boy continue" he said as he turned back to soobin ; oddly eager to hear the rest of soobins response

"Right as i was saying,, you die- and say you go to hell,, everyones scared shitless to be in a fiery pit- but you- well you walk right into your demon boyfriends arms ; sounds kinda cool right?" 

Beomgyu replied with a shrug " eh to be honest witches are more my type" 

"Alright stop playing around" taehyun said although that last comment definitely did not fly over his head- "can we please get the meeting started?" He grumbled; garnering nods from all 4 boys.

Hueningkai started by telling them some new information;; how when he cuddled the plushies- they started to giggle and almost snuggle closer to him? That when his mother came to his room and hugged him- a weird thick animosity filled it entirely - air becoming almost suffocating.

Hearing this only reinforced their initial thought of the demon being of the second class. 

The jealousy- possessiveness and somewhat affection seeking all pointed towards it being an amare.

And so they started to formulate a plan;; 

"How do we get the demons attention?- we need a way to lure him out of the dolls" taehyun stated thinking out loud 

" would it show itself if we just went inside the room?"

"No,,, it needs to be provoked" 

Knowing how jealous these demons get - hueningkai thought of a perfect idea "we could use me as bait?" 

"No way- That would be too dangerous" taehyun was adamant- demons sometimes acted unexpectedly and putting someone in a compromising position purposely just didn't sit right with him 

"I mean- think about it,, if we play our cards right - kai doesn't get hurt and we get rid of a monster,, besides we'll be there to protect him" soobin said throwing an arm around the boy seated next to him "you trust us dont you hyuka?" He asked as he tightened his hold around hueningkai 

"Uhuh ,, totally,, would not put my life in anyones hands besides yours" hueningkai said sarcastically with an ethusiastic smile ,, he even threw in a thumbs up for good measure 

Still a little hesistant Taehyun thought about it,, i mean sure using kai as bait would make this whole operation easier but he didn't know,, if kai got hurt it would weigh on his conscious 

yeonjun kicked at beomgyus legs and motioned to taehyun with his eyes - he knew if anyone could convince tae- it would be the one sat beside him 

"Cmon tae,,, what other option do we have,, we'll make a fool proof plan,, it can't be that hard right?" Beomgyu said looking at tae with his dumb cute doe eyes

Sighing in relent taehyun agreed;; they'll use hueningkai as bait  
  
One of them would pretend to be hueningkais long term boyfriend whom is asking kai to move in with him,, apparently this is supposed to agitate the demon,,removing its person away from their original residence permanently would most definitely infuriate it enough to show itself

They then came to the conclusion that they'd use arcadia to try and hold the demon captive and only resort to using the dirge if arcadia wouldn't budge- lepidus can't really exterminate the demons with one shot and so they'll use that to cause damage

Leaving just taehyun without a part;; yeonjun jumps in this time " taehyun you be the boyfried- it works out well because you can keep hyuka safe with your magic" 

Seems like they have a general plan,, sorting out the last few details they agreed to perform it tomorrow,, the sooner the better

One person however was not looking forward to tomorrow,, he'd had a dream the night before this meeting,, in it he saw a black string that continued to twirl around a certain boy,, never ending he saw how it got tighter until the boy ended up dismembered and all over the floor with splashes of red and blue 

Soobin didn't understand what the dream could mean this time ;; were they supposed to go through with their plan or was it a sign that something was going to go wrong 

Confused he decided to just ignore it ,, nothing too bad was going to happen right? 

Looking back at the four boys sat around him, soobin couldn't help but feel an odd daunting sense brewing in his stomach 

If only they were all honest with eachother- things could've turned out differently 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welll thats the end of chapter 4<3 i hope you liked it!!!! I would very greatly appreciate if you left me a comment telling me your opinion,,, do leave a kudos too if youre enjoying the story so far <3 once again thank you for readingg
> 
> Random note: the harry potter thing actually happened to me back when i was in highschool:")) shit was hilarious- our principal said she needed to bring ppl in to question us because we're in dire need of being investigated for being magic users- istg a whole idiot (I was in a religious highschool)


	5. Repentinus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the 5 boys carry out their plan to eradicate the demon in hyukas room but as with everything in life; surprises happen to pop up. 
> 
> ///yeah the summarizing isn't getting better is it //

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im so sorry this took me forever to put out but I'm happy I finally have,, i hope you enjoy it <333 it is a little longer than the other chapters I've put out,,do tell me what you think <3

It was dark; looking around - a cold gust of air flowered around Soobin, the tails of the wind sparking as it danced around this grim unknown area. Deciding to follow its lead Soobin trod carefully, with every step he heard little whispers growing louder- like little flames they flared up almost lighting up the path but within a flash, their light would disappear, deciding to play a little game of tag but never getting caught. 

He was about to walk deeper into the black abyss when something stopped him- pushing against it, the apparent wall would not budge. His hands slammed against it a couple more times before he let out a sigh of frustration.

All of a sudden the other side of the wall started clearing up- as if the darkness was just some big concentration of smoke; the air filtered out and in front of him were 3 boys sat upon chairs. Behind them seemed to be a dark ominous energy– a demon perhaps?

The demon seemed to be seeping into the boys' bodies- slowly eating at them- their eyes became pools of black and what were previously 3 white bodies slowly seemed to be turning into lifeless grey corpses.

One by one they started to slip off the chairs- falling into a dark pit of nothingness.

Soobin screamed- he shouted- hitting the glass wall- trying to escape- trying to save them but With every hit- the whispers volume increased. No longer were they whispers but shrieks and growls. The noise was too deafening and Soobin fell onto his knees with an ear curling scream- his hands against the sides of his head trying to cancel out the noise that surrounded him.

But It was too late. He couldn’t reach the other side. They were gone.

Soobin filled with remorse and guilt- Lifting his head, he wanted to take a glance back at the chairs but instead of seeing the expected plastic, he was faced with the eyes of one he recognized staring straight back at him- however, instead of their usual color, this time they were painted a blend of scarlet and midnight ink. They looked hungry- long nails scraping along the glass with a loud screech- smile wide.

Soobin awakened from this odd dream with a gasp. Sitting straight up, legs crossed, he tried to calm himself down; breathing in for 6 seconds- holding for 8 and finally breathing out for five, he repeated the exercise a couple more times until the overwhelming feeling washed away.

Turning to the side Soobin picked up his phone- it was still early; he wasn’t set to meet up with the other boys until noon. Deciding to stay in bed, Soobin Laid back down with his hands behind his head, letting out a deep sigh as his mind strayed far away, starry ceiling serving as a visual background for his ever so messy thoughts.

To be completely honest he was beyond confused- what could this mean? It felt like the seer dreams that sometimes graced his sleep but something felt a little off this time. Different.

Why was he face to face with Yeonjun, his best friend out of all people, and what was he doing with their friends? Why was he acting like a complete demon?

Reminiscing the energy he felt in that dream made Soobin feel sick.

It gave off a murky green taste that would crawl up his throat- as if it were slimy mucus spreading along his entire body. Disgusting.

Shaking off the odd feeling, he went back to the dream. How was this connected to yesterdays dream? This has never happened before Afterall - seer dreams on two consecutive nights. It made no sense.

Getting up quickly Soobin went over to his desk and got out his dream notebook. He liked to keep track of the seeing dreams- to lessen the feeling of them being all in his head- sort of like a source to prove that he isn’t crazy if the dreams indications came true.

Sitting down, he held on to a pen and started writing.

The first dreams main point was a black string that wrapped around a faceless boy- ending with the colors red and blue? Usually, the dreams aren’t direct in their meaning. Soobin started thinking deeply —tapping his pen on the table a couple times, brain-racking to come up with a conclusion.

when it dawned on him,, the black string could mean someone is being controlled by an unknown power and them getting dismembered resulting in 2 opposite colors could imply that they’re going to be forced into making one of two choices? Backed into a corner? But who?

Tapping his pen a little faster now, slowly becoming more frustrated -as his train of thought ran, he thought and thought when suddenly his pen stilled and his breath stopped.

Soobin had come to a realization.

“FUCK its Junie” quieter this time he mumbled out a small “isn’t it”

It made complete sense, the sword lighting up crimson? Yeonjun knowing random facts about demons, him getting all weird at the mention of wrath and the demon council?

Could it be that Yeonjun was the half-human child? Were the rumors true? But why was he attacking their friends in the second dream? What’s the message the dreams trying to push through?

All this thinking early on in the morning hurt, groaning he closed his eyes whilst scratching his head and tried to empty his mind.

A clear space to just calmly think about the whole situation.

_Why wouldn’t his best friend of 14 years tell him this, did he not trust him? Did all those years spent together mean nothing?_ _No- definitely not_ shaking his head, Soobin dismissed that train of thought fast.

Reminding himself to be rational, he thought that Yeonjun had to have his reasons- he wouldn’t keep quiet all this time for nothing.

Yeonjun also hated violence- he would never purposefully hurt anyone let alone his own friends. The second dream made no sense, but a lot of them didn’t. Or perhaps Soobin just couldn’t understand them all that well yet.

Letting out a frustrated groan over his incapability to comprehend the dreams, Soobin got off the chair and went back onto his bed, deciding to just trust his best friend for now. Put his whole faith in him and later once they’re done with the mission he’d have a deep long talk where Yeonjun could explain everything.

But that doesn’t mean that Soobin won’t be more cautious during today because well,, the dreams definitely didn’t scream good things were going to happen, but he wouldn’t doubt Yeonjun. That’s the only thing he was sure of, their many years together built up a strong bond that would not be shaken by this. 

Soobin too preoccupied with his thoughts didn’t notice the dark presence of someone who would be very unhappy by this turn of events,,

Anyhow It seemed like getting worked up over the dreams tired Soobin out and within seconds of laying back down his eyes fluttered closed and he was sound asleep once more.

Only waking up to the sound of Turing love ringing loud and clear- groaning he rubbed at his eyes slightly before rolling over and answering the phone call

“bun I’m outside your house- no ones answering the door”

Begrudgingly getting off his bed, Soobin answered back with a quick “ill be right down” while putting on his bunny slippers that were thrown carelessly to the side of his bed and made his way down the stairs.

opening the door to see a slightly tense Yeonjun dressed in a killer red supreme jacket- it contrasted quite well with his blue hair.

“well if you’re done staring.. can I come in?” Yeonjun teased

Since Soobin was still a little sleepy, the comment slipped right past him and so he just stepped to the side allowing way for Yeonjun to come inside the house.

Barely acknowledging his best friend, Soobin walked straight to the living room couch, throwing himself over it as he snuggled into the fluffy blanket laid atop it.

Yeonjun was not one to miss out on a little cuddle session and so he went over and softly whispered “move over”, only getting a small groan in response with a couple of incoherent words thrown in, he absolutely did not think soobins sleepy murmur was adorable

Deciding to just push Soobin over slightly, Yeonjun slipped under the blanket while wrapping his arms around soobins waist, head resting in the nook of the others neck. Feeling the bit of the tenseness he had earlier on in the morning fade away.

Truth be told he himself had had a rough night- still a little uncomfortable with the idea of erasing the very existence of demons,, his mind clouding in confusion over trying to convince his heart and soul over something he knew was _wrong_.

Feeling warm, Soobin nonchalantly cuddled back into Yeonjun, rolling over so that they’re now facing each other -Soobin pressed his face against yeonjuns chest- letting out a content sigh as he snuggled in deeper. A few seconds pass in complete silence and Soobin could slowly feel the weight of a question hanging in the air, not waiting for Yeonjun to ask, he jumped right in.

“don’t worry I’m alright,, just a little tired is all,, been a long night “ he reassured,, and before Yeonjun could reply, Soobin asked something that’s been plaguing his mind all morning, granted he already knew the answer,, but sometimes he just wants a little reassurance- to calm his anxious mind.

“you trust me,, right Jun?” Soobin questioned while looking up at Yeonjun

Yeonjun was a little taken back, surprised at the sudden question, where was this coming from? Something must’ve happened he thought before looking down into soobins slightly apprehensive eyes

“of course I do bun, no question about it, have I ever given you a reason to think I don’t? “

Shaking his head in no, “just asking” voice a little muffled due to his face being buried back into yeonjuns chest the second the question was thrown out into the open – now basking in the warmth and comfort Yeonjun gave him, confusing dreams long forgotten.

Accepting that response, Yeonjun started petting soobins hair, slowly running his hands through the others soft bedhead while holding him close. An action he knew Soobin enjoyed - something about it being relaxing and soothing.

Minutes pass before he decided that it was time to break up the nice moment

“Not that I’m not enjoying this but we do have to get up soon bun,, its almost 11:30”

Eyes wide open- Soobin jumped right up “why didn’t you tell me earlier, oh god we’re going to be late- you always do this” he muttered while hurriedly moving towards his room to get dressed- body completely awake now.

Not following far behind Yeonjun laughed a little “ I’m sorry you just looked like you needed a little bit more rest” catching up to Soobin, he slid his arms around the other and promised that they won’t be late.

Feeling a little flustered, Soobin pushed Yeonjun off with a big shut up before kicking him out of his room so that he could get dressed and finally leave to get this mission over and done with.

They managed to make it to hueningkai’s shed; the final meeting place, with 5 minutes left to spare,, granted a little out of breathe- as Soobin decided they had to make a run for it the minute they got off the bus stop.

so here they are- hands on their hips- breathing in and out heavily with small beads of sweat running down their foreheads.

“lovely of you to finally grace us with your presence” taehyun sarcastically said with a smile

Crossing his arms, beomgyu added teasingly “yeah bout time,, was getting _boring_ waiting alone here with taehyun”

Taehyun didn’t even look offended “the feelings mutual Hun”

Instantly pouting beomgyu turned to look at taehyun “you don’t actually mean that” bottom lip jutting out further “do you?” 

His words of choice a shrug, taehyun didn’t say anything else besides looking at beomgyu indifferently, trying really hard to be convincing.

However it seemed like beomgyu didn’t notice the way that the corners of taehyuns mouth were betraying his uncaring act by slightly turning up into a small smile and so taehyuns playing around backfired, resulting in beomgyu grumbling ‘shuttup you love me’ before shoving him playfully

Except that the boy seemed to underestimate the power he held in those arms and taehyun almost ended up sprawled all over the ground if not for his quick reflexes and witchy powers as beomgyu always put it.

“Fuck- I am so sorry,, I didn’t mean to push you _that_ hard,, I swear it was a mistake”

Taehyun just wiped at his pants before turning to beomgyu, and very / _softly/_ punching him on the arm garnering a small cry

smiling wide “no worries, now we’re even” he’d said with a wink thrown in.

beomgyu’s eyes grew wide in amusement- he didn’t really know what he was expecting but he most definitely wasn’t expecting a punch back in reply to his apology. He liked this, _really_ liked this. Liked the way taehyun was always surprising him- in good ways of course.

coughing, having watched the entire exchange between the two, Soobin didn’t even want to comment and so he skipped over whatever _that_ was

Yeonjun however would never miss the chance to tease the other two so he too coughed- coughed out whipped before clearing his throat and looking at them with innocent eyes.

“ _Moving on-_ I’m guessing huening is in position in his bedroom already then?”

taehyun replied with a short yes while walking over to where he had put their weapons down earlier on. The other boys following right behind him.

Grabbing the dirge he handed it to Soobin “be careful with it”

Next, he picked arcadia up that was in its blue holding pouch- handing it over to Yeonjun.

this was actually yeonjuns first time holding arcadia- and when his fingers touched the deck of cards everything around him stilled. he was immediately transported into a new realm- an endless white box. He had assumed that this was the dream realm but unlike the demons who got trapped inside of arcadia,, Yeonjun instead was faced with countless doors.

They were clear glass doors- he could see where they would lead him to and so he knew which one would lead back to his friends.

However he didn’t plan on leaving just yet- curiosity getting a hold of him- Yeonjun moved towards the other doors.. what he saw made him gasp out loud in shock. He knew it would be bad from what he was told- but he never imagined this.

Each door led to what looked like a cell, in it were the demons tied with fiery red chains; they were screeching and most definitely in a lot of pain, but what was weird is that their eyes were completely unfocused and somewhat cloudy?

Entering one of the cells- Yeonjun could somehow tap into the demon's brain and see what they were seeing. They were being tortured in their dreams- their worst nightmares- the demons utmost regrets were used against them,, not only were they being tormented physically but also mentally.

Arcadia wasn’t a happy dreamland for demons to reside in,, it was a prison meant to use them for all they’re worth.

His father’s alarm at the mention of arcadia made complete sense now,, he didn’t tell his dad that taehyun had arcadia- no, he just said that he saw the name randomly while looking through old ancient books in the T2 store.

His dad had told him that arcadia was made by the strongest 10 ancient wizard family heads: the Lulerain, as a way to fight back against demons- using them; demon against demon. A foolproof plan really. 

But over the years arcadia seemed to have gotten lost or better yet someone kept it hidden. As this was a very strong object and humans were inherently greedy; taking advantage of it and using it for all the wrong reasons. Scoffing his dad had muttered “not that using demons in the first place was okay”

Yeonjun didn’t think that taehyun knew all of this,, history can get lost over time and the truth behind some things fades or better yet is chosen to stay hidden.

And It seems like taehyuns family knew of the power behind arcadia- hence them keeping it locked away- but why did taehyun trust them, _complete strangers_ , with the knowledge of its existence and even allowing them to use it...

Shaking his head,, he definitely knew he couldn’t use arcadia on the demons now. He’d have to make something up about arcadia not working,, after all this was his first time using it- it would be very believable.

Yeonjun preferred the option of eradicating a demons complete existence over having it stay a slave in pain for all of eternity. Both choices he hated making but out of the two, one option was worse than the other. Besides, it was just one demon,, right? He’ll just have to work hard to find a better option for the future.

Determined- Yeonjun decided to go back to his friends, walking through the glass door, he slipped right back into his body. No time had passed as the human realm was stuck on the moment he was handed the blue pouch. Truth was that his physical body didn’t travel anywhere- instead another form of Yeonjun- perhaps he could call it his soul- was transported into the other realm. Something he didn’t know he could do- maybe it was one of the perks of being born the way he was.

Taehyuns voice snapped him out of his thoughts “beomgyu don’t forget to take the pill- you still need help with manifesting your energy” he’d said while handing beomgyu his bow; Lepidus

Getting up, taehyun walked over to the door and told them to stick to the plan. It was go time- time for them to face the demon together- their first job as a team.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Hueningkai felt weird. He didn’t know how else to explain it. no words could truly express what he was feeling- A grimy mixture of conflicting thoughts and emotions. Hugging the plushie closer to his chest, it was almost as if he could hear purring. Perhaps it was all in his head but the room was filled with a warm safe feeling and contentment. He was scared- but not for the reasons the other boys would assume.

No. hueningkai was scared of betraying the demons trust. Scared of hurting the already broken creature, he felt sorry, oh so apologetic to his new friend. He didn’t mean for this to happen- he didn’t expect it at all- but the best things in life are those you never see coming.

So here he was stuck in a dilemma- no true way for him to explain what was happening and no way for him to avoid the inevitable actions about to transpire. If only he could explain to the other boys- if only they were able to understand.

Sighing in defeat, he just held the plushie closer whilst whispering a soft I’m so sorry. Hoping it would somehow understand the situation he was being forced into.

Hearing three knocks against the door, the signal for the plan being undergo, kai got off the bed and went to open the door with a big bright smile on his face, no trace of the sad grimace that was there mere moments ago.

In front of him was taehyun who seemed to be in character- calling out with a loud “baby, I missed you so much” diving in for a tight hug.

Chuckling slightly, hueningkai pushed him off and pulled him into the room

“ don’t be silly, I saw you no more than 10 hours ago” 

The minute taehyun stepped inside the room, the atmosphere immediately tensed. There was a very obvious change in energy- if anything was clear; it was that taehyun was not welcome. Exactly how they wanted it.

Shaking off the bad energy- taehyun turned to huening with a loop sided smile “ 10 hours too long if you ask me” pulling the other onto the bed where they would lay talking for a while before continuing the next steps of the plan. The 3 other boys now in position inside the house- awaiting the signal.

The reason that taehyun and huening decided to lay close on the bed- of all places in the room- is well this is the most intimate place for the demon. They cuddled kai in his sleep,, the bed was their main domain, their most cherished place. An intruder invading an area it has deemed as its own- well that would most definitely do an amazing job of agitating it.

Minutes pass of them making jokes, laughing together and just enjoying the others' presence; completely ignoring how the air in the room was slowly becoming more suffocating- ignoring it only worked to madden the demon even more, but this wasn’t enough for it to show itself.

Turning onto his side, taehyun took hueningkai’s hands into his own and stared right into the others pretty eyes

“kai, I have something I want to talk to you about”

Sitting upright and pulling taehyun with him, hueningkai asked what was up “you’re not breaking up with me are you?”

Denying with a long series of no’s along with making an x with his arms- emphasizing how wrong that statement was,, “the complete opposite actually”

The lighting in the room started flickering and the energy became smothering- pretending nothing was wrong, the two boys started Scooting a little closer- hands still entwined tightly together. Out of fear or anticipation,, who could tell.

Squeezing Kais hands as if to say you ready? Here it comes. Taehyun carried on with the plan.

“I want you to move in with me,, we’ve been together for a while now and it's normal for people our age to live on their own- to move out of their parents' houses”

The room almost shakes,, they’re so close- the demon just needs one more soft push.

Hueningkai curses the day he was put in this position but decides he just has to do it. No way around it.

Moving so close to taehyun that he could feel the others breath on his face, hueningkai replies with the utmost excitement, ignoring the stabbing feeling in his heart.

“ohmygod yes, of course, I will- been waiting for you to ask, have wanted to move out for the longest time,, this place has been getting old,, besides I feel most at home when I’m around you so that works out perfectly” topping it off he gives taehyun a quick peck on the cheek. A little improv on his part.

The blush that paints taehyuns face is more than adorable and hueningkai can't help but pinch his cheeks and squealing out a “you’re so cute”

That was what it took. The demon felt forgotten. Felt as if its place was getting taken over- it didn’t like this one bit- not at all- and so it finally decided to act.

Too bad that taehyun noticed the air shift immediately and snapped his fingers- sending the signal to the other three boys. They were given a little bead and when it was time- taehyun would use his magic to make it light up, now was the time to move.

Taehyun quickly tackled huening kai off the bed- both of them landing onto the floor with a big oof. Just in time to see the demon come to life. The dark misty energy seeped out of the cute little plush doll. As taehyun mentioned before it had no set shape- just floating there however it seemed that his suspicions were true- this was most definitely an Amare.

As the demon grew larger,, a loud kick to the door was made which opened it but the door flew right back shut because of too much force.

“Fuck that wasn’t supposed to happen”

“oh my god hurry up bun- now is not the time to act cool”

“dude move over- let me have a go- my legs are stronger than yours”

“you idiot that’s why its not open right now- too much force”

Shaking his head- taehyuns immediate thought was that they’re doomed- gone for- they’re all as good as dead.

“can all of you shuttup and hurry? Open the fucking door like normal people” surprisingly that came from hueningkai

Another strong kick to the door, _that thankfully didn’t close back in their faces_ , and the three boys entered the room

“see? I told you I could do it” Soobin said with a roll of his eyes.

“good on you bun”

“Want me to clap for you?” beomgyu added sarcastically

“hate to break it to you guys but I don’t know – THERES A HUGE FUCKING DEMON WAITING TO TAKE OUR SOULS RIGHT IN FRONT OF US?” frustration calming down- taehyun put a big bright _somewhat creepy_ smile on his face before saying “so maybe stop playing around, hmm?”

The message was loud and clear- their first line of defenses Soobin and beomgyu as the backup for him got in position. Yeonjun served as a plan b- if anything were to go wrong with the sword, and finally taehyun would protect hueningkai- make sure that the demon didn’t lay a single hand on him, keep their bait safe.

Soobin took one deep breath before pulling the sword out of its sheath- the illuminating brightness shining as it swung to his front with one leg behind the other. He stood strong and ready to advance forward for an attack.

However, it seemed that today would not go as planned and before Soobin could charge and slash at the ever so growing demon- beomgyu squeaked “Shit”

The other boys didn’t even have time to turn around and see what had happened because a golden spiraled thorn arrow flew right past them swiftly and somehow it happened to hit the demon right in the middle of its head

The difference between soobins and beomgyu’s attacks is that with Soobin it was in an instant and a fast job- the immense power behind the dirge and its chosen human was not to be compared with anything else. Beomgyu’s attacks did cause some damage but it could not kill the demon immediately- which is why they had put him as back up but It seems that nothing ever goes to plan with the boys.

The demon did not like that one bit- and so it became very angry very fast as it was not expecting for itself to become a target.

In mere milliseconds of the demon getting hit- hueningkai fell onto his knees. He felt it. Felt the demons' emotions of pain and betrayal. The thin string that connected huening with the demon snapped and agony filled him completely. Unable to handle the fire spreading through his whole body- the fire of a broken trust- he curled up into a ball and rocked his body slightly,, trying to relieve the excruciating pain.

Everyone in that room became alarmed,, what had just happened? taehyun was the one to move first- putting up a small barrier around him and hueningkai.

He Laid his hands on the other's chest to try and ease the pain,, he used a cooling magic as the only words that were coming out of hyukas mouth were “hot,, too hot” and so slivers of ice painted themselves into hueningkai’s skin- the only show of taehyuns magic. It seemed to be working as huening stilled, eyes closed but he was definitely alive and breathing - taehyun let out a big breathe of relief.

Soobin was angry. Not at the demon- but at himself for allowing kai to get hurt. He didn’t really understand what had just transpired but he still felt at fault. He was the one who suggested becoming demon hunters- he was the one who set this whole thing up and so he felt that weight- that responsibility pushing roughly against him. He wouldn’t wallow in self-pity for making mistakes before they could even start- no.

Soobin stood straight up,, pushed one leg behind the other, and moved at a speed no one knew he had. The sword seemed to carry itself- instead of Soobin the one handling it- the dirge seemed to be dancing- it carried Soobin along- it took the lead. Bringing him right to the demon and before any of them could blink, a flash of light struck the demon and in its place were specs of dark energy fading and leaving the world of the living.

Soobin closed his eyes and let out the breath he was holding in- just to get attacked a second later with beomgyu shaking him - eyes bright

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT- you couldn’t have done that the moment we entered the room? AND SINCE WHEN COULD YOU WIELD A SWORD”

Staggering a little- Soobin didn’t answer, eyes rolling back he was about to fall down but Yeonjun who happened to be right behind him caught the boy.

“hey bun- bun look at me,, can you hear me? What’s wrong?”

Taehyun called out to Yeonjun to reassure him “don’t worry,, I forgot to mention but using the dirge takes a lot out of a person- so he’s just out cold tired- it’s his first time using it after all- he’s not used to it”

Slightly angered at that small slip of information Yeonjun turned to taehyun

“you couldn’t have told us this earlier? What else are you keeping from us”

“what are you trying to imply hmm ?” taehyun asked- a little offended at the prospect of him hiding things from the other boys. He would never intentionally keep vital information from the others.

“Hey guys- relax- this is not the time to be fighting- soobins okay and we need to make sure kai is as well”

But of course, this day seemed to be a never-ending curse because they suddenly heard clapping. Which obviously confused the 3 conscious boys.

Turning to face the source of the sound- they saw a demon? But it had a perfectly human-looking body... why was an upper-tier demon in the human realm- better yet in hueningkai’s room..

“quite a show you all put there but I’m afraid I’ve seen enough and its time for me to play my turn”

“who the fuck are you- don’t remember inviting another person to our demon club” beomgyu asked- it seemed that he hasn’t noticed that this actually was a demon- well who could blame him,, he didn’t have the knowledge nor experience the other two had.

“I don’t think the child of pride really needs an invite to go anywhere” the girl scoffed before adding on “besides I was here first”

Looking calm as ever the demon wasn’t anxious at all, confident in her abilities she just walked around the room, after all the one biggest threat was sound asleep and no one else really had the power to cause any lasting damage and so she decided to indulge them

“you see I was sent here by my father a while ago to assess the situation- after all, there was an odd gathering of demons in this room- and it wasn’t because of terror” laughing to herself she walked towards kai- just as she was about to caress the beautiful boy's cheek- taehyun brought back the light barrier and so she immediately stepped back- putting her hands up

“don’t worry I’m not going to do anything, well not yet” she laughed again- she was a demon,, and well-playing games was their forte

“as I was saying,, that wasn’t normal,, and the demon's actions just then weren’t normal either- because it could’ve hurt all of you- not that you’re not powerful but you are a bit slow and total beginners,, no offense” chuckling to herself she continued “so even though its bond with the sleeping beauty was broken- it felt Kais immediate order to not hurt you. And for some bloody reason, it listened to that order ” looking each boy in the eye, the demon asked “so does anyone know why? Hmm? Let me tell you- that boys of an extinct race or well thought to be extinct called the Ateles,, and his existence is one that threatens many,, honestly we don’t even know how he’s alive”

Taehyuns suspicions turned out to be true and this reveal made hueningkai’s earlier reaction make sense..now he knew why,, but why didn’t huening tell them any of this- sure he might’ve not known the term but he must’ve had communication with the demon,, however thinking about it now would be useless,, they’re kind of in a predicament and taehyun has no idea how they’re going to get out of this one.. seems like they bit off more than they could chew. His grandmother was going to kill him if this demon didn’t do the job first.

“so what? You’re here to kill kai? Take him? Sorry we won’t let that happen” it was beomgyu that interrupted with this statement and the demon seemed to find it cute

“oh darling your fighting spirit is adorable- you really think you have a chance against me?,, but worry not- a change of plans happened when we noticed him” she said while pointing towards Yeonjun.

Confusion flooded the room- what could they want with Yeonjun? Staring back at the demon beomgyu and taehyun were a little lost- however, Yeonjun felt the anxiousness rising in his body.

“Don’t look at me like that- little blue-haired smurf over here was the one who allowed Soobin to move that quickly- you really think a mere human could’ve moved that fast? Of course not” she exclaimed as if it were the most obvious thing ever

seemed like yeonjun had a lot of explaining to do

“anyways,, father told me to watch and follow the blueberry and what we found out was much more appealing than a little atele who could communicate with demons,, so ill be off then”

She was fast,, really fast and Just as she was about to grab Yeonjun- soobins sword flew right up about to slash at the demon,, it seems that although Soobin wasn’t conscious, his soul was and so its spirit still ran through the insides of the sword- his love for Yeonjun was very strong and so the sword moved according to its owners strongest desire pushed by his pure heartedness; saving his best friend.

however she had expected that from Soobin and her going for Yeonjun was just a fake move to garner that reaction- so that the sword didn’t have enough time to twist back and attack her when taking Soobin,, she’s not the child of pride for nothing- her intelligence was something she most definitely prided herself for

transporting right behind Soobin- she took hold of him and well _disappeared._

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Opening his eyes Soobin first felt confusion at being in a strange place- was this another dream? However, after looking around the surprisingly very nicely furnished room he noticed the two people stood in Infront of him – immediately shouting and jumping back- Soobin felt his anxiousness crawl up.

“Woah calm down- stop screaming” vanity said with an annoyed expression on her face

“DONT TELL ME TO STOP SCREAMING WHEN I DONT KNOW WHO IM WITH NOR WHERE I AM”

“oh god this is why I hate humans- you’re all so _dramatic- Giving me a headache already,_ ” the other demon said before dramatically sitting down, crossing one leg over the other, hands clasped together.

“anyways let me introduce myself before you freak out even more- I’m pride and that’s my daughter vanity, she brought you to me,, you see I think your best friend is my long lost nephew- and I honestly just miss him so much- been itching for a family reunion for years now”

Pride then further explained how initially he had tried to get vanity to mess with soobins trust in Yeonjun telling him how the second seer dream was a fake, something they orchestrated since apparently it was one of vanity’s powers to control peoples dream worlds– however much to their displeasure.. soobins trust didn’t waver at all.

And so they decided to go down another route after noticing the amount of love and loyalty the two boys held towards one another- they would use that exact bond against them.

The plan was to take Soobin and use him as bait- however, the dirge was definitely a problem for them and so they waited for the perfect time to intervene- using soobins moment of weakness and want to save his friends to snatch him right away.

This wasn’t even an if game since they knew for sure that Yeonjun was coming. It was just a matter of when- and so they told Soobin to get comfortable and well acquainted with the walls of this room,, since he might be here for a while.

So that’s where Soobin is.. stuck in the demon realm with a narcissistic girl and her even worse father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for readingg the fifth chapter,,, i hope you liked it,, feel free to tell me what you think- i would love to hear it <333  
> also feel free to send me a message on my twitter @axoctic

**Author's Note:**

> and that concludes the end of the first chapter, it is a little short but I hope it's piqued your interest for the rest of the story and what's to come, please leave me a comment, constructive criticism is more than welcome <3


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